“Yes! We have cooked sausage!” So spoke the self-proclaimed BBQ King himself, as he raised the first cooked snarler aloft. Rhys Darby’s bangers were officially ready and the crowd that had gathered could finally sink its teeth into some organic beef and parsley.
The Auckland launch of the Key to Copenhagen fundraising drive took place at the Warehouse in Newmarket. Rhys was joined by the likes of Lucy Lawless, Keisha Castle-Hughes and climate scientist Jim Salinger behind the grill. Shoppers who’d headed down to the Red Shed simply to pick up a garden hose or cut price cassette tape were understandably caught off guard when they saw these well-known Kiwis pushing snarlers for $2.
“Sausages on sale - $1.99!” shrieked Keisha. She was possibly the most determined retailer amongst the team.
For a comedian, Rhys took his sausage-sizzling very seriously. Between autographs and photos with fans, one could spot his furrowed brow over the BBQ range as he sought to live up to his own rhetoric about how good he was with tongs.
All up nearly $500 was raised, as the Sunday Star Times put it, “enough to get Key a third of the way to Copenhagen”. Many people gave money while declining a sausage, just cos they liked the cause. And still more people Signed On to encourage Key to commit to a 40% by 2020 emission reduction target.
See the other blogs on this page for coverage of the range of other fundraising activities that took place around the country on Saturday and make your own contribution online here.